Maariv: Death sentences had Al-Sisi's approval

The Muslim Brotherhood continues to enjoy great popular support despite the hostility of some Gulf Arab states against them, Israel’s Maariv newspaper said yesterday.

The newspaper added that despite the fierce campaign against the Muslim Brotherhood “tens of millions are still on their side”.

Israeli writer Ben-Dror Yemini wrote that: “The Arab Spring gave a new opportunity to the Muslim Brotherhood who were ready, so they won in the parliamentary and presidential elections.”

The Brotherhood feel that the army took away their democratic rule, he said, pointing to the latest death sentences issued against over 500 Egyptians.

“Whoever thinks that they understand the rules of the Middle East is now appalled by the Egyptian court ruling, this is unprecedented in the Arab world,” he wrote.

The court would not have issued such a sentence without the approval of the supreme ruler, in reference to the current Defence Minister and de facto ruler Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. He noted that although Egypt is now under secularist rule, it is still not a rule of law.

“Sisi knows that the death sentences – even if they are not been implemented – will not improve his image in Egypt. But he is likely to have given up on the West, especially the United States,” he noted.

“The strict court ruling is in harmony with the rising wave of hostility against the Muslim Brotherhood in Gulf Arab states.

“Sisi’s problem is Qatar’s Al-Jazeera channel,” Yemini said.